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MoveOn Ad: "Senator McCain, You Let Me And My Kids Down"
MoveOn sends over a new ad that's meant as a sequel to their earlier "Alex" spot, which featured a mother asking John McCain if her baby would be bound for Iraq under his "100 years" policy.
The new spot is about gas prices, and features a worried middle-aged man directly addressing McCain and telling him that he'd "let me and my kids down" by pushing the "gimmick" of off-shore drilling as a genuine solution to the gas crisis...
The idea with the spot is to dispel any lingering conception folks might have of McCain as a genuine reformer. MoveOn will be spending at least $150,000 on the spot, and it will likely run on national cable and in key states, though where exactly hasn't been determined.
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Really poorly produced. The concept of a guy saying McCain let him down is a good one, but the message is muddled and it looks extremely low-budget.
Something conceptually like this, but sharper and better-produced, and released by the Obama campaign.
That's what's needed.
http://strategy08.wordpress.com
July 31, 2008 9:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'd characterize the production quality as poor-to-fair. The guy talks too fast. Good eye contact and facial expression, but the hand gestures are a little early -- they anticipate the points instead of reinforcing them. All in all, just mediocre acting.
July 31, 2008 10:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
I dunno. I mean, yes, it does look very low budget. And it kind of reminds me of those diabetes commercials where the guy is going on about some thingy that's cheaper and doesn't prick your finger. But beyond all that, it might prove effective. ;)
It depends on the target audience, really. Play this ad when old(er), middle class, mostly white men & women tend to watch tv and it may be able to at least sow some doubt in people's minds about John McCain's gas proposals. But no, as geha714 mentioned below, this one doesn't have the MTV/Comedy Central appeal to it. But you won't find many McCain leaning voters watching MTV or Comedy Central anyway.
July 31, 2008 10:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
i hate when MOVEON.org puts out video like this, its really annoying.
I think its so poorly produced because they want to make the video as personal as possible, you know like its from a regular person, because only regular people would poorly produce a video.
Maturity Went Out The Window And People Noticed
July 31, 2008 11:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
I can see why Obama wanted to control the message instead of people giving money to 527s. This MoveOn ad is lame, just like it's "hope" ad. They talk about McCain "dissappointing" them instead of pointing out that he raised more than $1 million from the oil industry within two weeks of announcing he wanted off-shore drilling.
I'm sick of everybody treating McCain with respect and acting as if he's just gone off his "straght talk" track. McCain has outright lied repeatedly and now he's being owned by big oil. Yet, nobody is calling him on it.
July 31, 2008 11:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry, my comment is not related to this ad.
I am just trying to point out folks at TPM are not quite timely.
This morning you should be showing a link between Exxon-Shell profit and Bush's reduction of Iraq tours.
It could go something like this.
The 3-month cut will increase the number of deployment demography if you do year-end math. It is a long term Republican strategy to involve more and increase the military base of the party. From another angle, it is a tactic to prolong the stay by countering the pressure to leave Iraq and end the occupation. It is a reversal of time horizon, a tactic to foil time table to withdraw. It is a way to get more donation and gifts from Oil Companies and contractors of all kinds: solidifying the Republican donor base by assuring them that US is not withdrawing from Iraq and they can continue doing business and keep doing all kinds of corruption so that they can donate to RNC more now and more later.
July 31, 2008 9:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why not just expand on your thoughts in a blog post?
July 31, 2008 9:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Your comment is unclear. It doesn't have clarity. Perhaps you could work on it more and communicate your point better.
July 31, 2008 10:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ok, but I like the Hope ad better. It works well on MTV and Comedy Central. The one with the veterans works better also.
July 31, 2008 9:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
I like this one better than the hope ad.
Folks need to know that the RNC plan for offshore drilling and drilling in protected areas is a gimmick.
Interesting data from the Q poll - although more voters support drilling in Alaska 51% think the best way to address the energy crisis is with renewable energy:
Voters support 53 - 42 percent drilling for oil in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge.
Looking for the best way to address the energy crisis:
51 percent call for renewable energy sources such as solar power, wind power and fuels;
22 percent support drilling in Alaska and currently protected offshore sites;
8 percent back nuclear power;
6 percent say mandate higher mileage standards for cars;
5 percent say release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Obama has a better energy policy, 34 percent of Florida likely voters say, as 32 percent say McCain has a better policy, with 34 percent undecided.
July 31, 2008 10:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
"51% think the best way to address the energy crisis is with renewable energy" Everyone should agree with this point. The difference is what to do between now and then...tapping domestic supplies while we develop future technologies vs. Suck it up, windfall tax on big oil and hopefully invent something new before the economy collapses.
July 31, 2008 10:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Except that "tapping domestic supplies" is already happening. If you are referring to offshore drilling, the oil companies (1) aren't utilizing several million acres worth of leases RIGHT NOW and (2) admit that any increase in supply from any new offshore wells (A) won't hit the market for at least 10 years and (B) won't make a DENT in gas prices.
What happened to the grown ups in the Republican Party?
July 31, 2008 10:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
What "grown-ups"? It's pretty apparent from the Britney Spears/Paris Hilton ads that the McCain campaign thinks that juvenile behavior will make everyone forget McCain's age issues.
July 31, 2008 11:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
"(2) admit that any increase in supply from any new offshore wells (A) won't hit the market for at least 10 years and (B) won't make a DENT in gas prices."False Democrat talking point alert...
Offshore oil (outter continental shelf) can be tapped in less that 2 years. http://www.energytomorrow.org/
July 31, 2008 1:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
...but even if, and that's a big if..... it STILL won't affect the price more than a couple of cents per gallon.
Best option for immediate relief: Open the reserves, which the Republican's in the House have effectively killed.
All the Repubs are interested in is giving more land to the oil companies. Actually, helping the American consumer is a the bottom of their list. Oil companies and their interests at the top.
July 31, 2008 2:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is a site sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute. The same people that will tell you record profits just cover their costs. How much credibility do THEY have! And, if you believe prices dropped in response to anything non-binding that Bush did, how much credibility do YOU have? Prices fell because demand fell - since you now need a leveraged buyout of a tank of gas!
July 31, 2008 3:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
"This is a site sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute." They are the experts on drilling...if I had a BS shoveling question, I'd go to the DNC web site.
August 1, 2008 9:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, here's the bill your Republican friends killed in the House, that could've started the exploration and then drilling immediately in the lands the oil companies ALREADY HAVE.
I repeat, the Republicans killed a bill to start U.S. Oil Exploration and Drilling:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-6515
WHy? Because it didn't offer the oil companies any new land for them to snap up. Quite simply the GOP is trying to hand off as much land to the oil companies as possible before this next election. They know their days of giving hand outs to and from the oil companies IS OVER!!!
July 31, 2008 11:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wilderness Society Poll also confirms Americans support drilling, but prefer a renewable energy solution:
http://www.wilderness.org/NewsRoom/Release/20080724.cfm
July 31, 2008 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
I like the idea of pointing out the gimmick, but after reading Theda Skocpol's blog yesterday, I wonder why pro-Obama ads continually reinforce the theme that McCain is letting us down. Why repeat the notion that McCain was different?
I'd rather see an ad that pointed to his insensitivity, to a nation of whiners, to an offshore drilling policy designed to fool voters and increase the profits of oil companies. "The companies have been trying to get around these restrictions for years," an ad might say, "and now John McCain and George Bush have developed a way to give their benefactors exactly what they want."
A little more populist anger and less whining disappointment as if John McCain were ever a reputable politician.
July 31, 2008 10:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Trying to cut into McCain's BRAND. That's what he (McCain) is counting on. That he can fully embrace the Right's agenda, but still hold on to independents with his moderate/straight talk past. That's why his advisers are whispering one thing to conservatives and McCain is saying another thing in public.
July 31, 2008 10:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
John McCain is an elitist, plain and simple. He doesn't need to worry about lowering gas prices, since his family will never be in a financial position where they need to worry about the price of gas. He has much more to gain by a handout to the oil companies than he does legitimately trying to reduce the gas prices.
You can read more about how Senator McCain is an elitist over at http://strategy08.wordpress.com/2008/07/31/its-time-to-start-calling-john-mccain-an-elitist/
July 31, 2008 10:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
I didn't like the Alex spot and I don't like this one either. I've never liked ads that put the Everyman or Everywoman in some contrived situation that is designed to only elicit some visceral emotional reaction from the viewer.
July 31, 2008 10:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's deja vu, all over again! And it's driving me crazy!
This new McCain strategy is not just a replay of the Bush/Rove attacks on Kerry for being elitist, unmanly, French and arrogant, it's also a replay of the arrogant, robotic, condescending, "he says he invented the internet" attacks on Gore. The $400 Edwards haircut/Breck Girl meme would have played out the same way if he had won. They did vary the attacks against Hillary Clinton by portraying her as a "bit*h" and castrating but it was all in the same playbook of making the election about phony cartoon characters that they created.
The GOP apparatchiks learned the lesson that P.T. Barnum was right, there's a sucker born every minute and they've made a living selling the same snake oil over and over.
The Bush/Rove/McCain GOP team is just a one-trick pony and if you liked 2000 and 2004, you'll love 2008!
July 31, 2008 10:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think the look of being low budget and underproduced is very intentional and could be very effective.
The actor looks the opposite of slick, he looks kind of nervous and ill-at-ease, twisting his wedding band around his finger in a nervous mannerism. The effect is disarming, so when the actor says he told his kids "this was a principled guy," and "I believed you," it drives the point home that McCain has gotten off the straight talk express in a big way.
I liked it.
July 31, 2008 10:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. Instead of the soaring and high production value of Obama's ads, this one is talking to the every man/woman that has the vague notion that McCain is a straight talker. I think it's effective and my guess is that it did VERY well in focus groups.
July 31, 2008 10:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks.
Anyone who agrees with me is, of course, completely right.
July 31, 2008 1:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
I like the ad. Most consumers are NOt going to focus on the 'production quality'. I like that the guy seems unrehearsed and unsure about being on camera..that comes across as genuine. Like he is NOT an actor but rather a real middle class citizen experiencing challenges deciding on who to vote for.
The ad is powerful, direct and on target. It will hit home with the audience it is targeting...middle class over 50 voters. The guy looks like the demographic, speaks like the demographic and shows concern like that demographic by twisting his ring.
Folks his age do that a lot when expressing opposing opinions. It isn't that they do not have those opposing opinions but that their generation is more hesitant to voice them in a public venue.
Particularly, if they are independent and not part of the activist set.
Good AD.
July 31, 2008 10:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
I like the ad, yeah, it looks a little cheap, but that is certainly not an accident, MoveOn can do good stuff, I think they were going for "authentic". I think it works. It is good that they put out some facts about oil drilling for a change, even if briefly, and flat out called it a gimmick. I hope it plays all over the country.
For a deeper analysis of the offshore drilling scheme, check out my blog:
http://www.thepersonalispolitical.com/2008/06/mccainbush-oil-scheme-pure-deception.html
July 31, 2008 10:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
Did some other guy dub over him in the middle of the ad? His voice completely changed.
July 31, 2008 11:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
Republicans also killed this energy bill that would've released some oil from the strategic reserves, a PROVEN way to reduce the price of gasoline:
http://www.ajc.com/wednesday/content/news/stories/2008/07/24/oil_reserves_congress.html
So you can cleary see that Republicans DO NOT give a shit about you, what you pay at the pump, how much that cuts into your budget, or about any solutions to the energy crisis.
July 31, 2008 11:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
8 Reasons TO Open the Reserves:
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/07/eight_reasons_spr.html
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, oil markets were roiled due to some damage to oil rigs and infrastructure. On September 1, 2005, the spot price for oil was $69 per barrel—up 10 percent from two weeks before. President Bush announced the impending release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve the next day. Oil closed at $66.91—a 3 percent decrease. On October 10, a month after the oil sales closed, the spot price was $60.74, a 12 percent drop from September 1. Oil averaged $62 in October, $58 in November, and $59 in December.
On January 16, 1991, on the eve of the first Gulf War, President George H.W. Bush announced that he would sell 34 million barrels from the Reserve to “minimize world oil market disruptions.” That day oil sold for $32 per barrel. The day after the announcement, the price dropped to $21 per barrel. Oil remained in the $20 per barrel range during and after the war. The Department of Energy concluded that the “partial drawdown…help[ed] restore stability to world oil markets during the Persian Gulf War.”
July 31, 2008 11:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
You forgot GWB lifted the executive ban and the price dropped...let's go Nancy!
July 31, 2008 1:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Um, that's in there, see Katrina.
July 31, 2008 2:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
I like the ad. I think it gets it exactly right. And I haven't liked what moveon has done recently. The Alex ad? Misleading and manipulative. And there was another one recently I didn't like. But this one works.
July 31, 2008 11:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
I liked it. Much better than the Alex ad, which really was just vaguely ooky. This is simple & makes its point -- actually a bit pithier & quicker than I've heard Obama make it.
There's one point Obama & others don't make on this issue, & I don't understand why not. My quote would go like this:
etc etc.Why do I never hear the consequenses argument?
July 31, 2008 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink